Books Received, November 9 to November 15

[james_davis_nicoll]

A large assortment of new works this week.

Books Received, November 9 to November 15

Poll #32230 Books Received, November 9 to November 15

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 50

View Respondents

Which of these look interesting?

View Answers

A Simple Twist of Fate by April Asher (May 2025)
6 (12.0%)

The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas (March 2024)
24 (48.0%)

The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst (July 2024)
18 (36.0%)

Eat the Ones You Love by Sarah Maria Griffin (April 2025)
5 (10.0%)

Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones (April 2025)
16 (32.0%)

Deliverance of Dragons by Mercedes Lackey & James Mallory (May 2025)
4 (8.0%)

Reluctant Witch by Melissa Marr (April 2025)
7 (14.0%)

The Last Voyage by Brian D. McLaren (July 2025)
2 (4.0%)

Stewpot: Tales from a Fantasy Tavern by Takuma Okada (November 2024)
15 (30.0%)

Esperance by Adam Oyebanji (May 2025)
16 (32.0%)

A Far Better Thing by H. G. Parry (June 2025)
9 (18.0%)

The Emilie Adventures by Martha Wells (May 2025)
35 (70.0%)

Some other option (See comments)
2 (4.0%)

Cats
29 (58.0%)

Comments

[mecurtin]

When are we going to internalize that we don't escape the oligarchs by going to fucking Mars?!? Relatedly, I'm almost at the point of summarily rejecting stories that just write off Earth's biosphere, as I already summarily reject stories where only princesses/kings/imperial heirs/billionaire scions are important.

I probably need a "my god i'm cranky today" icon.

[(Anonymous)]

"The Last Voyage" cover copy mentions "creating a new humanity" to
hat will occupy Mars. "We" won't. The philanthropists who are running the Mars project presumably are oligarchs as well, to afford to do it. How exactly the "new humanity" will differ from the 20th century model will be an interesting point, will they be oligarch-free for instance? And how so? Will new-humans with insect hive loyalty and specialization avoid the oligarch problem, or institutionalize it? Will it be like Huxley's "Brave New World", and dissolve fetuses's brains with medical alcohol when they are intended to be MBAs?

There's a speech in C. S. Lewis's Mars novel, "Out of the Silent Planet" (Mars may be a spoiler), where one member of the expedition from Earth describes a goal to put humans on other planets and accepting that they will evolve away from Earth-human. The audience he's addressing isn't convinced that this is worthwhile.

Robert Carnegie

[ba_munronoe]

Hear, hear.

[bolindbergh]

Is Mapping the Interior an expansion or a reissue of the 2017 novella?

[james_davis_nicoll]

I believe it is a reissue.

[kgbooklog]

I'm not seeing many consensual relationships in those plot synopses.

[(Anonymous)]

Reading across them... it's implied that any reasonable person will be thrilled to marry their soul-mate, but it's not actually compulsory? Although you may have to put up with them, regardless.

I wonder if the "shifter" remembering "the witch who ripped his heart from his chest" is speaking literally. And, reading between the lines, the town role of "Fate Witch" could have amounted to phoning it in for years.

Robert Carnegie

[kedamono]

As for Stewpot, version 0.5 is available on Itch.io: https://noroadhome.itch.io/stewpot-tales-from-a-fantasy-tavern

It's also on Backerkit: https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/evil-hat/stewpot

[(Anonymous)]

Here’s a link to a pay-what-you-can download of ‘Weird Windsor’. It’s “a celebration of our city’s rich culture of science fiction, fantasy, and horror writers and artists.”

https://payhip.com/WeirdWindsor

[dagibbs]

"The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas (March 2024)"

What? I thought that came out in 1980?

[james_davis_nicoll]

That is the release date for the new edition.